Turn in your Bibles, if you would, please, to Luke chapter 2. We've been delving into these verses of Scripture, very familiar, and we began a series of messages last Sunday that we entitled Christmas Blessings. Aren't you glad that God wants to bless us? Isn't that a blessing? That encourages me. Listen, you ought to be encouraged over the fact that God desires to bless you, your family, your future young person. God wants to bless you. And we found that right here. He blessed some shepherds. and the angel tells them that the blessing is to all people, not just some, not just a few, not even most, but all people. That means you and me, and we ought to rejoice in that. These blessings are found in the announcement of the angel to those humble shepherds there on that Judean hillside. On the outskirts of Bethlehem they're watching over their sheep. I can only imagine what must have went through their mind, the fear and then the joy. Can you imagine that? First you come in contact with a celestial being, an angel. And then the angel tells them, don't be afraid, I've got a message for you from God. And it's about His Son. It's about the Messiah. And imagine the joy that must have filled their hearts. They were blessed of God. And notice if you would verse number 10, the Bible said, And the angel said unto them, the shepherds, Fear not. Aren't you glad that we don't have to be afraid? Fear not. For behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people." Now I'm going to stop right there, and I want you to look at those two words, good tidings. You know the word gospel comes from that good news? He said, I've got a wonderful message for you. I began to think about the fact that not only are we blessed through Christmas with the blessing of joy, but we also have the blessing of hope. It's bound up in those words, good tidings. I've got some good things to say to you. They didn't live in a world with a lot of hope. Matter of fact, they were under the domination of Rome. They were under tyranny. Sin and darkness and sorrow and despair. filled that day. And they didn't live in a Christian era like you and I have lived in much of our lives. They didn't live in that. They didn't have those kinds of messages that you and I have today. And so the angel comes to them and says, listen, what you've been longing for, what you've been praying for, what you've been desiring has come. I have a message of hope. Listen, I'm glad today for hope. What about you? People need hope. And hope is a powerful force in a person's life. And I want to talk about it this morning. Let's pray and then we're going to talk about this matter of the blessing of hope. Father, we sure thank You for Your Word today. We thank You for the goodness of our God. Lord, You're good. Lord, thank You for the blessing of hope. Lord, that we can be a hope-filled people. That regardless of what may lie on the future, regardless, Lord, of the prognosticators of our day, Lord, we can be a people who live in hope. And we can offer Your hope to a world who desperately needs it. Encourage us, help us, bless us today, Lord. Change us. Lord, fix our attitude. Lord, sometimes we're so dismal. And Lord, You want us to be joyful, and we can be because of Your hope. Lord, there's someone that may need the hope of salvation today, and I pray they'll come to know Christ. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Probably one of the greatest compliments that I've ever received as a preacher. Now, you've been so kind as a church, and I've had so many nice things said to me, and I'm so thankful for all of those, but I'll never forget that someone made the statement one time, they said, preacher, they said, one of the things that helps us and blesses us is that any time you preach, you never leave us without hope. You know, that's one of the goals that I have as a preacher, that every time I stand in the pulpit, no matter what the content of the message or the direction of the passage, that at some point, some way, somewhere in that message, that we're going to leave you with a message of hope. You know why? Because we have a God of hope. Our God is a God who gives hope to individuals. He gives hope to people. Hope is a powerful, powerful force in our lives. But yet, listen, watch this, on the flip side, so is hopelessness. You know, we live in a world where people are hopeless. They're crying out for this matter of hope. There's been times that you and I have had a sense of hopelessness in our own lives, if we're very honest. things that come into our lives, circumstances, situations, things that we face in life and will have a sense of hopelessness. You know, somebody said, a person can live weeks without food. They can live days without water. They can live minutes without air. But one person made this statement, they cannot live one second without hope. You know, the leading cause of a person taking their own life is a sense of hopelessness. There's no way out. There's no other answer. There's no other way that I'm going to be able to get through this situation other than just taking my life and just ending it all. And by the way, if I do that, then I'll be better off and everybody else will too. And I just want to remind you that is a lie of the devil. He is a life destroyer, not a life giver. This has never been more true than the lives of many of our prisoners of war. During the Vietnam War, Major Harold Kushner was a prisoner of the Viet Cong for more than five years. He describes a fellow American prisoner. He was a tough 24-year-old Marine veteran. He was a combat veteran. He had been taken captive and he made a deal with his captors. The marine agreed to cooperate with the enemy. And in turn, with his cooperation, the commander, the commandant of that prison camp said, I'm going to let you go. I'm going to release you. And the young marine with that thought in his mind did whatever he was asked. As a matter of fact, he became a model prisoner. He even led thought reform groups in that communist prison camp. Before long, though, it became clear to him that he had been lied to, that they had no intention at all of letting him go. And when that realization dawned on him, Major Kushner, who was in the same prison, prisoner of war camp, here's what he chronicled, here's what he said. He said, here's what happened next. He said when the full realization of this took hold, he became a zombie. He refused to do all the work. He rejected all offers of food and encouragement. He simply lay on his cot, sucking his thumb, and in a matter of weeks, he was dead. The cause of the prisoner's death can be summed up in one word. It's called hopelessness. During World War II, the Korean War, Vietnam War, many prisoners died from a condition that army doctors nicknamed, give-up-itis. The prisoners faced with grim conditions and no apparent prospect of freedom. Some of them became demoralized and deeply mired in despair. And they refused to eat or drink. They would stare blankly into space. They were drained of all hope and they would gradually waste away and die. One doctor said the human spirit needs hope to survive and thrive. He said, I learned that taking away hope is to most people like pronouncing a death sentence. Their already hard-pressed will to live can become paralyzed and they may give up hope and die. Hopelessness is a powerful force in the lives of individuals and the reality of it is that life can drain us of hope. It can leave you and me, even as Christians, in a place of despair and a sense of hopelessness that there's no way out. And you know what? If the truth be known, even through this situation that we've been living in these last months, that you have felt a foreboding sense of hopelessness like it will never end at some point along the way, if we were honest. But I've got good news. You say, preacher, what is it? There is hope. I do not have to live a life, and you Christians do not have to live a life of hopelessness because not only is Jesus the bringer of joy, I'm here to tell you this morning, He is the giver of hope. He is. Matter of fact, that was the very message to these humble shepherds that's bound up in those two words, good tidings. It was wonderful news. He said in verse number 11, For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. He was saying to these shepherds, there is hope. One poet put it this way. He said, A baby's hands in Bethlehem were small and softly curled, but held within their dimpled grasp the hope. of all the world. Isn't that a blessing? Listen, let me just tell you, when I began to think about and study on hope this week, I realized that just like joy and happiness, that there is a difference, or the difference in the world between the world's idea of hope and the gift that God gives in hope, or God's gift of hope. They're all the difference in the world. Whenever you think about hope from a worldly setting, look it up in a dictionary, see what Webster's has to say about it, or this one, or that one, and you're going to find there's always within that word hope a hint of uncertainty. Somebody may be planning a family get-together and they say, well, I hope it doesn't rain. Well, you know what that means? They've got a wish and a desire that it won't rain, but it might rain. There's uncertainty there. And we can apply that in all kinds of different areas of life. Many times our hope in a world setting is merely a wish that may or may not actually happen. But friend, let me just tell you something. When it comes to Bible hope, When it comes to the hope that God gives, I'm here to tell you, it's not hope with a question mark. There's no uncertainty in it. It is hope with an exclamation point. You're going to find it. It is a confident expectation. That it's based upon the reality of the promises of God and upon the ability of that God who made them to keep those promises. You know what that tells me, Christian? That you and I should never give in to a sense of hopelessness in our lives. We should never go to that point. We should never let our own flesh or the devil or the world take us there, because no matter what may come into our lives with God, there is hope. There just is. Aren't you glad for the blessing of hope? You see, that baby in Bethlehem didn't remain a baby. All some people know of Jesus at Christmas time as a babe in a manger, but I'm glad to report to you, He's not still in a manger. He is a Lord on a throne seated at the right hand of the Father, and He is able. Friend, He loves you, and He is the giver of hope. And on three different occasions, on three different occasions during His earthly ministry, the Lord Jesus is going to give hope, and He's going to use a particular phrase. It's this phrase, be of good cheer. When I thought about that word cheer and I began to study the word cheer, I at first thought that it would fit into the message on joy as I was projecting out and studying and allowing the Lord to lean. And I realized that's not what the Lord was saying at all in those circumstances. He wasn't telling them to be joyful or rejoice. That word cheer means to be warm. It's sort of like a macaroni and cheese word. OK? Now you say, why? Because that's a comfort food, a warmth food. People order that and it gives them a feeling of warmth. They want to eat it. They like it. I'm not a big macaroni and cheese fan and you all feel sorry for me about that, but that's OK. But anyway, it's sort of a comfort word. But it has the idea of take heart. Be courageous. Have hope. When the Lord comes to these individuals, He's saying to them, have hope. Do not be hopeless. Be hope-filled. That's exactly what He's saying to them. Let's look at them. Turn your Bibles back one chapter or two books to the book of Matthew. Let's just go back to the book of Matthew and find chapter number 9. Would you do that? And here's what we're going to do. We're going to meet a man who has drained of absolutely all hope. All hope. Matter of fact, he has a physical ailment to the point that this man is beyond all human help. But yet you're going to find he has an even greater need than that. And we're going to see that. Look, if you would, in Matthew chapter 9. And we're going to look in verse number 1. Matthew chapter 9 verse number 1. And he, talking about the Lord, entered into a ship and passed over and came into his own city. That's Capernaum. This is the headquarters of his earthly ministry. And behold, they brought to him a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed. Here's a man that suffered from a paralysis of the body. whether by disease or injury, we're not told. But he had lost the ability to move his body and was confined to a bed. This man was completely helpless. He was in a terrible plight. He was in a terrible condition. His mind was clear, but his body limp with paralysis. He was beyond all human care. Apart from a miracle, this man would spend the rest of his life in a bed, unable to move. His only hope was the Lord, but to further complicate the problem, he couldn't get to the Lord. He couldn't move. He didn't have any ability to get himself to the Lord, and so while the Lord was his only hope, whether he knew that or not at the time, I have no idea, but he couldn't have got to the Lord if he wanted to. But thank the Lord for some friends. Notice the Bible said they brought to him a sick man, a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed. Now they is not the disciples. These are the friends of this man. You see, hope came to this man. The first glimmer of hope in his life came from a group of friends that was concerned about his condition. Let me just tell you, dear friend, as a Christian, you need to understand something. Just as Jesus is a giver of hope, Do you realize as He was sent into the world, so He has sent you and I into the world, and we are givers of hope. We are. You know, we don't need to participate in the world's dismal outlook. We just don't. If we're not careful, we'll get sucked right into the hopelessness of our society. and we'll get just as dismal and down and discouraged and depressed and hopeless as they are. And dear child of God, that is not where God placed you. That is not what He has for you. You are not to be living in that world. You are a giver of hope because you know Jesus Christ and you have hope today. Don't ever lose sight of that fact. You say, well, I've been told it's going to be a dark winter. Well, you know what? Every winter has some darkness to it. Well, I'm told it's going to be this. And I'm told it's going to be that. Well, you know what? You're not factoring in. That is a prognosticator. That is not God talking. But regardless of what our future holds, dear child of God, we have hope today. We do. And let's live in hope and not hopelessness. Let's change our outlook. Let's change our attitude. Let's change how we see life. And let's be a people of hope today. I'll tell you what, you'll be a magnet. So this man had a glimmer of hope and they bring him out of a heart of compassion. They go to great lengths. We study this in the Gospel of Mark. They broke up the roof. They let him down in front of the Lord Jesus. And notice what the Bible says in verse 2, and Jesus seeing their faith. Before this man ever had faith, his friends did. You know what? When your loved one doesn't believe God, why don't you believe God for them? Now I realize you can't be saved for them, and you can't enable them to have a relationship with God, but they believed for this man before this man ever had any faith. Did you see that? They just believed the Lord was his answer. And you know what? When we go into Christmas season and family and friends, we just need to recognize that the Lord is the answer, and when we get there, every one of us have unsaved family, friends, people that we're going to come in contact with, and we need to bring them a message of hope. We need to do that. That's what they did. Do you realize the Lord knows something nobody else knows in this room? Except the man on the bed, that he's got a deeper problem. You know, worse than his paralysis of his body was the paralysis of his soul. worse than the condition of his life was the condition of his heart. I don't know. This man may have become palsy, paralyzed because of some injury, because of maybe some wild and wicked living. I have no idea. I don't know. I don't believe every accident and every injury and every malady that comes in a person's life is because of their sin. But at times it can be. We don't know. But I'm going to tell you, the Lord knew this man was crying out for hope in a totally different way than what his friends understood. This man was crying out in guilt and sin, and he needed a Savior. The Lord realized this man's deepest need was not to be healed in his body, but to be forgiven in his soul. Notice what He says to him in verse number 2. Jesus, seeing their face, said to the sick of the palsy, here's our phrase, Son, be of good cheer. Thy sins be forgiven thee. Be hope-filled. Be courageous. Take heart. Thy sins be forgiven thee. You've got a greater problem than your body. He hadn't even healed him yet. But I'm going to tell you what, he just changed his life in that moment. Folks, we see things so backwards. We get the idea that with disease and people that's wracked with it, they have no quality of life. You know what that comes from? That comes from the world and not from the Bible. It was invalids that prayed revival to the country of Wales. They couldn't get out of bed, but they could pray. They get a hold of God and God answered. Don't measure the quality of life by what you see. Measure the quality of life by what God does in somebody's heart. And this man's life was immediately rearranged right there on that bed. Can I tell you there was a load lifted off of him. He was forgiven and hope He fulfilled His heart because you know what? When He left life and He met God, He was forgiven. Son, be of good cheer. Thy sins be forgiven thee. You can live your entire life the picture of health. Everything go wonderful for you. Never have a problem in your life and spend eternity in the worst fix you've ever been in in a place called hell and hopelessness without Jesus Christ. Son, be of good cheer. Thy sins Let me forgive you. Thank God for the night. I didn't hear those exact words, but when I believed on the Lord as my Savior, you know what? Son, be of good cheer. Thy sins be forgiven. Hey, the greatest need any of us have is not the healing of our body. It's the saving of our soul. It's knowing Him. And friend, when you know Him, it's good. There's hope. Can I tell you, the same One who forgave this man's sin can forgive your sin. This morning, friend, to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins. And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. Friend, there is hope today. There's hope for sin, the deepest need of every individual. And aren't you glad, friend, Listen, after we get saved, He keeps on cleansing us and forgiving us of sin. There's hope. Amen? Let's fast forward. Not only is there hope for sin today. You say, preacher, but you don't know my sin. You don't know how bad it is. You don't know what I've done. You don't know where I've been. You don't know how I live. We don't know how this man lived. But God forgave him. Can I tell you, there's no case too hard for God. No sin too great He can't forgive it. Friend, there's hope today. But not only do I see hope for our sin, I see hope for our fears. Turn, if you would, just a few chapters over to chapter number 14. The disciples now are going to find themselves in a pretty tough place. They're in a dark and difficult place. They're in a boat out on the Sea of Galilee in a storm. They're being tossed every which way. Matthew's going to tell us they're tossed with waves. That means that the waves are crashing over the ship. It's going up and down in the swells. I can only imagine it. They're rowing, trying to get to land, and Mark said they were toiling and rowing. That means they were going into the wind, and as they were rowing, they weren't really making a whole lot of progress, and they've been doing that most of the night. They were at the point of despair. They were about ready to give in and give up. Fear had gripped their hearts as they were staring into a watery grave. In their minds, we're not going to make it. Guys, this one's it. Many a sailor, his life had been taken on the stormy waters of the Sea of Galilee at night. They didn't have a GPS phone. They didn't have a weather app to look on and say, boys, we better not go out now. It looked like a storm was going to brew. They had no idea. It just came up suddenly. Unexpectedly. They're in a mess. They're not going to make it. You ever felt like you weren't going to make it? You ever been there? We find ourselves in situations where fear grips our hearts and we're not going to make it. Financial fears. Marital fears. Parental fears. Fear of sickness. I'm just telling you, we have a whole nation paralyzed with fear right now. We do. We've got people that are captives. I mean, they're prisoners to fear. Much of it media and governmental induced. It is. I'm not saying that we ought not be cautious. I'm not saying that the virus isn't real. I'm not saying that you shouldn't do things to try to protect yourself. I'm not saying that at all. But God never told us at any time in life to live in fear and become a prisoner to fear. And we have a whole nation that's a prisoner of fear. I mean, you're afraid to cough in public because you're afraid you're going to get stoned. I'm just clearing my throat. Believe me, I am really. Don't stone me. People won't leave their houses. I mean, just petrified. Living in constant fear. God, listen to me. God! Did not. That is not abundant living. That is not what God has ordered for our lives. No. Cautious, yes. Paralyzed with fear, no. No. Disease, tragedy, death, even fear of the future. Listen, there's young people, young adults sitting right here, unsure of what your future holds. You're afraid. Do you realize the number one problem among suicide in young people is fear of their future because they see absolutely no hope? I'm going to talk about that in my next message. No hope. We're fearful. Can I tell you, the icy hand of fear can enslave us to the point that it paralyzes us emotionally and spiritually. But if the good news is there's hope for our fears, 2 Timothy 1.7, God hath not given us the spirit of fear. When panic takes hold of your life, that did not come from God. It did not. It didn't. Let's look at our text. We're going to get to the bee of good cheer here in a moment, but before we get there, can I just tell you how there's hope for your fears? First of all, He knows your fears. When's the last time you voiced your fear to God? God, I am afraid of... He already knows. Why don't you talk to Him about it? See, the Bible says in Mark, He's going to go up on a mountain to pray. The disciples are alone on the Sea of Galilee. He's not in the boat on this occasion. Alright? The Lord is absent physically from the disciples, but He's present as their God. And Mark said he saw them. He's on the mountain way distant. But through His omniscience, He sees them. He sees you. He sees me. He knew where they are. He knows where you are. Most of the time when preachers preach on the omniscience and that God sees all, it's always in a negative. Now, listen, you be careful what you do. God sees you. And is there a truth to that? Absolutely. But we miss the blessing if that's all we ever hear. As His child, the good news is He sees me. He knows where I'm at. He understands what I'm going through. He knows what I'm facing. He knows the fear in my life. I feel sorry for the guys in the back chasing me with the camera. Those of you watching by way of live stream, be patient. He sees you. He knows. It's good that He knows. I take heart. I have hope. Listen, hope. The glimmer of hope is He knows. God knows. And then He's praying for me. Look at verse number 23. The Bible said that He went up into a mountain apart to pray. What's He praying? He's praying for them down on that sea. He's praying for the disciples. And He's in heaven. He's praying for you. And He's praying for me. Imagine. Hey, it's so good when somebody says, I'm praying for you. We get so blessed by that. I get emails or texts all the time, Pastor praying for you, getting notes, praying for you, thank you, keep it up, it encourages me. Encourages our staff. We're grateful for that. You like for people to say, I'm praying for you. Imagine this, the Son of the living God in heaven is praying for you individually and specifically. There's hope. Do you realize? Hey, I prayed prayers God hadn't answered and I'm glad. It was a dumb prayer. You ever prayed a dumb prayer? I have. Jesus has never prayed a prayer that the Father didn't answer. He's praying for you. And He's going to come to you. Look at verse number 25. And in the fourth watch of the night, 3 a.m. to 6 a.m., right at the dawning of the day, it's darkest just before dawn, when they'd given up all hope, they'd been through the night toiling and rowing, and in the fourth watch of the night, Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea, on the very thing they were afraid of. Can I just tell you, I love that gospel song, when the waves are over your head, they're under His feet. Did I say that right? If I didn't, I just made up a good line. Somebody write a song to it. Yeah, it has been. I couldn't remember if it was the right one or not. We've got some good songwriters in our church, by the way. I'm thankful for them. Nahum 1-3, jot it down. The Lord hath His way in the whirlwind and in the storm. He's got His way in your storm. It's not going to overwhelm you. I don't have to give Him to despair. He's able. What if it don't turn out like I want it to, preacher? It's okay. He's still in charge. He is. It's going to turn out the way it needs to turn out, the way He wants it to turn out, which is always best when you and I don't even understand it. Because sometimes it brings pain to us. The Bible says, verse 26, when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled. That word simply means terrified. They were scared to death. Okay? And it's saying it is a spirit, it's a ghost, and they cried out for fear. I mean, these guys are screaming like babies for fear. You're saying, I tell you what, those wimpy disciples. Will you be out on the sea fighting a storm all night long in pitch black, waves crashing over, and you see something walking out there and you tell me how you do? You'll be screaming like a baby like they were. And I love what He says to them. Look at verse 27. But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer. There's our phrase. Have hope. It is I, be not afraid. He came to them. Isn't that a blessing? And He will comfort you. Be of good cheer. Be warm. Be confident. Be expectant. Be courageous. Have hope. Have hope. I've been taking a class, I've been working on a degree here recently, a doctor of ministry degree, and I've taken a class on grief. I've learned so much that I'm ashamed that I hadn't known in the 30 years of ministry. And a lot of times when people face grief, they get into a place of despair and hopelessness. And I have never experienced grief like many of you have experienced grief in your life. The worst grief I've experienced thus far was my grandfather passing away who was my mentor in the ministry along with several other men. I can remember when I did his funeral. It was pouring down the rain in March of 2010. I can remember being the last one other than the funeral attendants there around the casket before they lowered his body and planted it in the ground. And I can remember looking at my grandfather with a broken heart, tears running down my eyes because I had to hold it together for my family because I'm sort of their pastor in a distant way. And I did the service, and I looked at it, and he couldn't hear me, but I could hear me. And I said, Papa, I'm going to see you again one day. There's hope. Could you imagine living in a world with no hope? Paul says, if this is all there is, we're of all men most miserable. You want to know why we live in a world of misery? Because this is all they have. But Christian, you've got something more. God's going to make it right. and He's going to see you through. Look at verse number 32. And when they were coming to the ship, the wind ceased. Isn't that a blessing? He can calm the storms, can He? Then they that were in the ship came and worshipped Him, saying of a truth, Thou art the Son of God. And when they were gone over, verse 34, they came to the land of Gennesaret. You know what that means? They made it to the other side. Christian, you're going to make it. I know you don't think you're going to, but you will. If the election doesn't turn out like you want to, you're going to make it. You're going to make it. You're going to make it. Why? Because God's still on the throne. God hath not given us a spirit of fear, but of love and of power and of a sound mind. Isaiah 12, 1, Behold, God is my salvation. I will trust and not be afraid. For the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song. He also has become my salvation. Aren't you glad, dear child of God, that you're never alone? I was preaching in the morning service Apart from men who have lost wives in our church, we have 48 ladies of all ages that have lost husbands that are in our church, part of our church family. 48. It's almost 8% of our church membership. It's unbelievable. I didn't realize that until I was doing some research and realized that. There are people that maybe you're not a widow or widower, but for whatever reason, you're lonely. Loneliness is a terrible thing. Many people are lonely not by choice, but they're alone. You can be in a crowd and be lonely. Christian, can I tell you something? You are never absolutely alone because He is with you. Tap in to the hope-filled God that we have and know you are not alone. C. H. Spurgeon said this, "'The past you need not fear, for it has forgiven you. The present you need not fear, for it has provided you. And the future you need not fear, for it is secured by the living power of Jesus Christ.'" That's powerful, isn't it? Hope for our sin. Hope for our fears. Can I quickly just give you the last one? Hope for our troubles. Can we fast forward? Brother Randy, your favorite verse in all the Bible. I know I'm going to email about it this week, so I'm going to go ahead and preemptively say it. John chapter 16. Would you turn there please? Any time I mention John 16.33, Brother Randy will send me a quick email and say, hey, you know that's my favorite verse. Amen. It's a good one. You know, one of the things I like about not having a scripted church is I don't have to act scripted. I can just be myself and be free and say some things just like what I said about somebody's verse or whatever, you know. One of our ladies was broken today when I was talking about loneliness and she's lost her husband and she finished my sentence for me. And it was good. You could sense her pain, but you had her hope. I'm glad there's hope for our troubles, aren't you? Look at John 16 verse 33. These things I've spoken unto you, that in me you might have peace. Now we're going to get to that one, okay? I thought about it. I thought, Lord, I want to use that one in the next message, but it fits this one, okay? Because you're going to find our phrase in it. Now stay with me just for a second. Can I give you the setting? The Lord's getting ready to be betrayed. I mean, it's just hours. Judas will come with a crowd and the Lord will be betrayed. Ours. He's going to be condemned, crucified, and He'll be dead. They're not living on resurrection ground yet like you and I are. He told them, He said, Sorrow is going to fill your heart. He's talking to His disciples. He's going to tell them this earlier. Sorrow is going to fill your heart. The world is going to rejoice. The sorrow is going to fill your heart, but your sorrow will be turned into joy and nobody will be able to take it away from you. Peter, deny me. Man, you're going to forsake me and you're going to flee. It's going to be a terrible night. It's going to be a night filled with trouble and trial and hardship and difficulty. It's not going to be good. Now the outcome will be good, but what's getting ready to happen is not going to be good. Listen to what He says to them. These things have I spoken unto you, that in me you might have peace. In the world ye shall. Didn't say you might. Didn't say you could. You shall have tribulation. You're going to have troubles. But be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. Wow! Wow! As long as we're living in a broken world and we're broken people, we're going to have troubles. There's never going to be a time when we're trouble-free. We may go through periods where there's not as much trouble or we're not facing as much trouble in trial, but none of us are immune to it. It's going to come. Just live long enough and you'll face it. It'll come. It comes in all colors and shapes and sizes, but be of good cheer. Take heart. Be warm. Have hope. This trial's not going to swallow you up. You're going to make it. Why? Because Jesus said these words, Be of good cheer, have hope. I have overcome the world. We are overcomers. He's already told them. Do you realize what He's getting ready to say? Guys, it's going to look bad. I'm going to be betrayed tonight. I'm going to be sped on, slapped, mocked. beaten, crucified, and I am going to die. It's not going to look good. But I want you to be of good cheer because I've already overcome it all. I haven't even got there yet, but I'm just here to tell you I'm already the winner. I'm already the victor. I've already won. And Christian, you overcome because He overcame. And I don't know what's in your future, and you don't know what's in my future, and we don't know what's in the future of our nation. We have no idea. But I'm just going to already tell you, you've already won. You've overcome. You're already there. Oh, we may have to go through some rough times. We may have to hit some stormy seas. And we may have to hit some rough patches in life. But just good news for you. Have hope. Be hope-filled. Don't ever give in to hopelessness. Don't let the world drag you into its despair. Do not do that. You be hope-filled. Hope-filled. Why? Because He overcome and now you have overcome. He won and now you have won. And you are going to make it. You're going to make it. We're going to make it. We're going to make it. and out of blessing were overcomers in Him. The school system in a large city had a program to help children keep up with their schoolwork when they spent long periods of sickness and hospitalization. One day there was a teacher who was assigned to a particular child and she took the child's name and room number and she talked to the regular teacher of that child. found that they were studying nouns and adverbs in the class. And the teacher said to the teacher that was going to be doing the extra work there in the hospital, she said, I'd be grateful if you would help him to understand those nouns and adverbs so he didn't get too far behind and feel like that he can't catch up when he comes back. And she assured the teacher that she would do that. So she went to see the boy that afternoon. Nobody prepared her for what she was going to see. Here was a boy who was deeply burned all over, lots of pain. She was so upset that she had to hide herself at first and then gain her composure. And she stammered and said, I've been sent by your school to help you announcing adverbs. And then she started working with that little boy for a while and then she left and felt like a failure. She didn't really accomplish much. Next day she comes in for her session and the nurse said, what did you do to that boy? And the teacher felt like she had done something wrong. She said, oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt him. I didn't mean to do anything. She said, oh, no, no. That's not it. You don't understand. We've been worried about that little boy, but ever since yesterday, his whole attitude has changed. I mean, he's fighting back. He's responding to the treatment. It's as though he's decided to live. Two weeks later, the boy gave the reason why. He had completely given up until the teacher arrived, and then everything changed. He came to a simple realization and he expressed it this way. He said, you know they wouldn't send a teacher to work on nouns and adverbs with a boy that was dying, would they? I must be going to live. Isn't that a blessing? That teacher brought this little boy the blessing of hope. 2,000 years ago Jesus left heaven and came to this world to give us the blessing of hope. Christian, you and I can never, we need never, ever, ever again live without hope because of Jesus. We have hope. I'm blessed by that, aren't you? Who this Christmas can you share the message of hope with? Church, can I remind us that God's not stopped working just because things are a little bit different? He hadn't. People's lives are still being changed. People are still being saved and forgiven. The work of God's still going forward and we can still reach people. I don't have one in my pocket right now, but why don't you leave a track of hope along with a nice tip when you go into a restaurant? You know, tracks still work. Don't ever give up on that. If you're watching by way of live stream, when was the last time on the front end we were inviting people all the time to watch live stream with us? When was the last time you had a live stream watch party? Whatever they call it. See, every time you tune in, you ought to be having somebody tune in with you. Don't quit inviting people to church. We have room. People need the Lord. They need hope. And God placed us on this little hill on Main Street to be a beacon of hope to King, the surrounding communities, and the world. And church, we're not going to let the devil put our light out. Amen? Because with Jesus, there's hope. There's hope. There's hope for your marriage today. There's hope for your pain, your hurt, your failure, your family, and young person, and even adult, whatever point you are in life, there's hope for your future. And if you're without Christ today, there's hope for your eternity. You can know Him. We've been given the blessing of hope. Why don't you come to Christ today if you're not saved? Know the hope of forgiveness. Christian, maybe you've been living a little hopeless. You ought to confess that to the Lord. You know that's disobedience. Say, God, you've given me hope. Help me to live in your hope every day of my life. Help me to exude hope to those around me. Help them to see your hope in me. Help me to be your messenger of hope. Let's bow our heads and pray.